by Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich

About the author: Paul R. Ehrlich is Bing Professor of Population Studies in the department of biological sciences at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Anne H. Ehrlich is an associate director and policy coordinator at Stanford’s Center for Conservation Biology.

Ever since Reverend Thomas Malthus at the end of the eighteenth century warned about the dangers of overpopulation, analysts have been concerned about maintaining a balance between human numbers and the human food supply. That concern remains valid today in a world where a tenth of the population goes to bed hungry each night and millions die every year from hunger- related causes. Few subjects have been closer to our hearts and minds for the past three decades than the race between population growth and...